Orion Marine Group Earnings Preview

While Orion Marine Group (NYSE: ORN) missed estimates last quarter, investors hope that it will bounce back and outpace Wall Street expectations this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, August 4. Orion Marine Group and its subsidiaries provide a range of marine construction services on, over, and under the water along the Gulf Coast, the Atlantic Seaboard and the Caribbean Basin.

What analysts say:

• Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on Orion Marine Group with six of nine analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like Orion Marine Group as much as competitor Sterling Construction Company overall. Three out of six analysts rate Sterling Construction Company a buy compared to two of nine for Orion Marine Group. That rating hasn't budged in three months as analysts have remained unchanged in their opinion of the stock.
• Revenue Forecasts: On average, analysts predict $72.3 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 17% from the year-ago quarter.
• Wall Street Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is $0.0 per share. Estimates range from a loss of $0.05 to a profit of $0.03.

What our community says:
CAPS All Stars are solidly backing the stock, with 96% assigning it an "outperform" rating. The community at large agrees with the All Stars, with 92.5% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are gung-ho about Orion Marine Group, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 28 posts in the past 30 days. Orion Marine Group has a bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars that is about on par with the Fool community assessment.

Management:
Orion Marine Group's income has fallen year over year by an average of 12.5%. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters. The company's gross margin shrank by 7.5 percentage points in the last quarter. Revenue rose 4.6% while cost of sales rose 14.5% to $68.6 million from a year earlier.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters:

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